Concrete, the second most consumed material on earth after water, is a source of environmental problems due to global urbanization. The production of this construction material requires a large amount of natural resources, and portland cement (PC) is responsible for around 8 % of planet-warming CO2 emissions. Producing 1 ton of PC will release roughly 1 ton of CO2 into the atmosphere. In 2021, around 92 million metric tons of PC were produced in the U.S., and a total of 4.4 billion tons were manufactured worldwide. While there was a yearly increase of around 1.5 % in the direct CO2 intensity of cement production from 2015 to 2021, urgent annual declines of 3 % until 2030 are necessary to be in line with the Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario. This dissertation presents different approaches and technologies to offset the CO2 footprint of the production of cement clinker, concrete, and cementitious materials in general.
First, this dissertation investigated the possibility of using end-of-life tire (ELT) rubber powder and its zinc-recovered residual (treated ELT rubber) to partially replace fine aggregates of different construction and infrastructure materials including stabilized soft soil (0 %, 10 %, 30 %, and 50 % ELT rubber added by clay volume), portland cement concrete (0 %, 10 %, 20 %, and 30 % ELT rubber added by sand volume), and asphalt concrete (20 % ELT rubber added by sand volume). This work was discussed through aspects of engineering properties and environmental impacts. The results reveal that the ELT rubber had both negative and positive effects on the engineering properties of the three materials while this waste posed a huge leachability of zinc and total organic carbon (TOC) content when being subjected to aqueous environments. However, the findings indicate that all three materials' matrices could effectively immobilize most leachable zinc from the ELT rubber by more than 90 %. Meanwhile, only stabilized soft soil and asphalt concrete could effectively deal with leachable TOC content from ELT rubber, and portland cement concrete needed the addition of silica fume to reduce TOC concentration in its leachate.
Second, while previous studies have shown that steel furnace slag (SFS) can stabilize clay soils, the evidence is not clear if the stabilization mechanism is chemical and/or mechanical. This dissertation used isothermal calorimetry (IC) to quantify the heat of hydration of the mixture to assess the chemical aspects of the stabilization. Specifically, kaolin and bentonite clays were each blended with 40 % SFS by mass at water-to-binder ratios ranging from 1.0 to 1.5. The hydration properties of stabilized mixtures using lime or PC were also tested for comparison at the same experimental conditions. The obtained thermal power and total heat curves of stabilized mixtures confirmed that, for the specific SFS in this study, there is a hydration process taking place in clay stabilized by SFS. Relative to lime and PC, the SFS performed similarly in terms of heat of hydration behavior. When blended into clays, SFS provided a more significant heat of hydration behavior than cement, but that was much milder than lime. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were also employed to qualitatively analyze the mineralogy of the stabilized mixtures.
Finally, this dissertation adopted a Digestion-Titration Method (DTM) for the determination of CO2 content in cementitious materials that has been mineralized in the form of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). This method was modified based on tests that were originally developed in the early 1900s. The method uses hydrochloric acid to digest CaCO3 under vacuum conditions. The CO2 released is captured by a barium hydroxide solution, which is then titrated to quantify the amount of CO2 absorbed. A design of experiments approach was used to optimize the experimental conditions. Samples of known CaCO3 content were first evaluated to establish the baseline test performance, and additional tests were performed on portland cement and various rock samples. The results were also compared to TGA, including a discussion to compare the two test methods. The data suggest that the new test method is feasibly applicable to chemically determine the CO2 captured in cementitious materials, and it can be an alternative method for TGA with lower experimental cost and easier access.
Overall, it is evident that cement, concrete, and construction materials are essential to the functionality of civilization. Dealing with CO2 emissions and natural resource depletion induced by the production of these construction materials is urgent for sustainable development. Attempts toward construction materials with lower embodied CO2 by using low-carbon aggregates (e.g., waste aggregates, recycled aggregates) and alternative cementitious binders while controlling the environmental effects of the utilized waste materials are currently viable sustainable approaches. In addition, tools or new test methods that can support measuring the effectiveness of these reduced carbon cementitious materials are necessary. This dissertation investigates the feasibility of the use of ELT rubber waste in construction materials to reduce the exploitation of natural resources considering engineering properties and environmental impacts. It also provides a deeper understanding of the hydration behavior of stabilized soil using SFS which is expected to partially or fully replace PC in the material. Experimentally, it develops a chemical test model as an alternative method for TGA with lower experimental cost, less interference, and easier access to determine the CO2 captured in cementitious materials. / Doctor of Philosophy / Concrete, the second most consumed material on earth after water, is a source of environmental problems due to global urbanization. The production of this construction material requires a large amount of natural resources, and portland cement (PC) is responsible for around 8 % of planet-warming CO2 emissions. This dissertation presents different approaches and technologies to offset the CO2 footprint of the production of construction materials (i.e., cement clinker, concrete, and general cementitious materials).
First, this dissertation investigated the possibility of using end-of-life tire (ELT) rubber powder in different construction materials including stabilized soft soil, portland cement concrete, and asphalt concrete. This work was discussed through aspects of engineering properties and environmental impacts. The results reveal that the ELT rubber had both negative and positive effects on the engineering properties of the three materials. In return, all three materials' matrices could effectively immobilize most leachable zinc and total organic carbon (TOC) from the ELT rubber, which are detrimental to aquatic animals, plants, and humans.
Second, this dissertation used isothermal calorimetry (IC) for the first time to study the heat of hydration of soil stabilized by steel furnace slag (SFS) to assess the chemical aspects of the stabilization. The work compared the hydration behavior of SFS in clayey soil with traditional stabilizers such as lime or portland cement. The results demonstrated that there were chemical reactions taking place during the hydration of stabilized soil using SFS, explaining the improvement in engineering properties of the stabilized soil.
Moreover, this dissertation adopted a Digestion-Titration Method (DTM) for the determination of mineralized CO2 content in cementitious materials. The method uses hydrochloric acid to digest CaCO3 under vacuum conditions. The CO2 released is captured by a barium hydroxide solution, which is then titrated to quantify the amount of CO2 absorbed. The data suggest that the new test method is feasibly applicable to chemically determine the CO2 mineralized in cementitious materials, and it can be an alternative method for thermogravimetric analysis with lower experimental cost and easier access.
Overall, it is evident that cement, concrete, and construction materials are essential to the functionality of civilization. Dealing with CO2 emissions and natural resource depletion induced by the production of these construction materials is urgent for sustainable development. This dissertation is expected to fill the knowledge gap in carbon neutral construction materials research, including increasing the use of low-carbon aggregates (e.g., waste aggregates, recycled aggregates) and alternative cementitious binders as well as developing new test methods that can support measuring the effectiveness of these reduced carbon cementitious materials.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/117246 |
| Date | 20 December 2023 |
| Creators | Tran, Thien Quoc |
| Contributors | Civil and Environmental Engineering, Brand, Alexander S., Zhang, Wencai, Motaleb Abdelaziz, Sherif Lotfy Abdel, Flintsch, Gerardo W. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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